Trillanes to new Ombudsman: ‘We’ll be watching'

QUEZON CITY, METRO MANILA – The announcement of former Supreme Court Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales as the new Ombudsman drew an interesting reaction from Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.

Morales’s appointment was announced during President Benigno Aquino III’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) yesterday.

Interviewed by the media after the SONA, Trillanes said “he will be depending on President Aquino to pursue goals of swift and honorable justice.”

Trillanes said it was Morales who had barred him from attending Senate sessions after he won the elections in May 2010. The elected senator was still on trial for the infamous Oakwood mutiny in Makati City in 2003 and another standoff at the Manila Peninsula in 2007 also in Makati City.

Morales ruled against Trillanes to serve his function has as senator.

However, Trillanes was granted a provisional release last December 2010 by the Makati City Regional Trial Court pending an amnesty for police and military personnel involved in coup attempts during the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Notwithstanding the appointment of a former Supreme Justice who denied his freedom, Trillanes noted that the President’s SONA gave members in the military and police some hope that their lives will be bettered and that they won’t have to resort to military uprising.

Trillanes cited President Aquino’s housing programs for police and military personnel, in addition to the acquisition of several helicopters, patrol seacraft, and armaments for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).

He also noted on the inclusion of a Hamilton-class cutter, which has a 76 millimeter artillery canon. The ship, decommissioned in the US, is already on its way to the Philippines and will be renamed BRP Gregorio del Pilar.

Trillanes added that there are still reforms to be made under the Aquino administration and is calling for people to continue its watch over the progress of these programs.

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New Ombudsman Carpio-Morales takes oath

Retired Supreme Court associate justice Conchita Carpio-Morales took her oath of office as the new Ombudsman before President Benigno Aquino III in Malacañang, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said Wednesday.

Aquino announced Carpio-Morales’ appointment during his second State of the Nation Address before a joint session of Congress on Monday.

Carpio-Morales vowed to perform her duties and responsibilities and uphold the Philippine Constitution during her oath-taking at the Malacañang President’s Hall.

Aquino expressed confidence that Carpio-Morales will be able to do her function as Ombudsman as mandated by the Constitution.

“We now have confidence that the Ombudsman will be doing the function for which the office was set up,” the President said in an ambush interview following the formal opening of the 2011 National Science and Technology week at the SMX Convention Center of the Mall of Asia on Wednesday in Pasay City.

Joining Carpio-Morales in the oath taking rites were her husband Eugenio T. Morales, Jr., and her two sons, Eugenio III and Umberto.

Also present were former Supreme Court Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, Vice President Jejomar Binay, Justice Secretary Leila De Lima, Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad and Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda.

Before her appointment as Ombudsman, Carpio-Morales served as associate justice of the Supreme Court.

Born on June 19, 1941, in Paoay, Ilocos Norte, Carpio-Morales is the daughter of Judge Lucas D. Carpio and Maria Claudio.

Carpio-Morales started her career in a Manila law firm where she was an Assistant Attorney. From 1971 to 1983, she worked at the Department of Justice as assistant, lawyer, researcher, assistant special lawyer and senior state counsel before she became a judge.

Between 1983 to1986 she was appointed by then president Ferdinand Marcos as a trial court judge in Pili, Camarines Sur.

On November 4, 1986, former president Corazon Aquino appointed her as trial court judge in Pasay City.

In 1994, Carpio-Morales was appointed by President Fidel V. Ramos to the Court of Appeals where she headed the 7th Division of the CA.

On September 3, 2002, upon the unanimous endorsement of the members of the Judicial and Bar Council, she was appointed to the Supreme Court by former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Merceditas Gutierrez resigned as Ombudsman in April days before her impeachment trial at the Senate was to start over her alleged failure to act on several high-profile graft cases during the administration of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

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